Babs Playful Babble

One of my guilty pleasures is checking up on another yogi/yoga teacher's blog: babsbabble. Her post from yesterday made me smile. Here it is:

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Ah. Class tonight was so great. I had a fun group of students who were willing to try new things. We kept things flowy and fun and then worked on some balancing poses. There was a lot of laughing!

And, then we worked on arm balances. They kept playing until they couldn't anymore and collapsed into bhaktasana laughing.

Classes like this make me think I'm not crazy to be a yoga teacher. Like I might have something to offer.

And here is my reply after reading about a class I wish I was at:

Sounds like the best class ever. My favorite sound in a yoga class is laughter and it is all the more amazing when it comes out of playing with inversions and arm balances. I read somewhere that a yoga teacher will say to her students: "If you wobble smile, if you fall laugh." I love how encouraging laughter encourages yogis to move closer to their edge and challenge themselves to try the poses they might be nervous to try in a silent room.

Maybe this is why there is now Laughter Yoga. Can't wait to see that part of "Enlighten Up!"

Old Navy vs. Lululemon

While cruising my yoga blogs I came across a post at Yoga Buzz regarding Old Navy's line of yoga wear and their advertising/marketing campaign taking shots at Lululemon and its prices.

Here's the post:
Old Navy Goes "Yoga-ing"
If you think yoga classes are expensive, don't even think about shopping for yoga clothes in a cutesy retail boutique store! Some of the big-name yoga brands can charge close to $100 for a pair of yoga pants. With this in mind, mass retailer Old Navy recently launched a line of affordable yoga clothes, and is marketing the line with signs in their stores that say, "Our guru thinks you're lulu if you spend $90 on yoga pants." (Lulu? Is that an abbreviation for looney, or are they referencing our friends at Lululemon?)

It seems like a sound strategy in these economic times. What do you think? (And can any of you speak to the quality of the Old Navy yoga line?)

Here was my comment to the post:

Perhaps the $90 is not in every yogi's budget--however, they last and are expensive because the company cares about human rights and sustainable practices. Though your Old Navy gear may not cost much, it is also manufactured in a developing nation where the workers are not usually paid living wages and the company does not prioritize the health and rights and future of the workers.

Sometimes you pay more because as a consumer you use the power of the purse to encourage thoughtful consumerism. With such a move toward sustainable agriculture, fair trade products, etc., it is companies like lululemnon that promote social awareness and allow consumers to purchase products that they can be proud to wear. Clothing can only cost pennies when the people manufacturing it are paid less than pennies.

And here is YogaDork's Post today on the same topic:

UPDATE: Old Navy’s Anti-Lululemon Ad Confirmed National Campaign
by admin on March 26, 2009

in Business of Yoga, News

UPDATE: We mentioned Old Navy’s laying down the chutzpa with their new lulu-slappin “Goga” ad. Well, we have confirmation that the ad is indeed part of a sweeping national campaign - we saw it with our own little eyeballs at an NYC Old Navy store yesterday. (photo by official YD undercover agent)

Yoga Journal politely wonders if maybe they could be using an abbreviated version of “looney” rather than attacking Lululemon. Haha. We just think the Chipster should have spent a little more time premeditating on the name of his overpriced yoga-inspired clothing company.

PS. The yoga items are surprisingly well-constructed (by Old Navy standards) and cheap - we bought a yoga top on sale for 10 bucks. also, there’s a just as large running/walking section. So far, no word on how great the pants make your ass look. Reports surely to follow.

One more thing. This does seem like a major appeal to the female market, once again with not much attention to dudes.

During my last semester of law school I took a class entitled: Consumer Law. I wrote my paper on consumerism and using purchasing power as a vehicle to communicate what practices you want to promote e.g., fair trade, sustainable agriculture, human rights practices, no sweat shops, etc. I actually value companies like Lululemon that are founded on these principles. Yeah- $90 is a lot for yoga pants. But, they last, the people making them can eat at night, and if we are really talking about being "green" then don't buy new yoga clothes that are manufactured in Southeast Asia and result in a giant carbon footprint when they are shipped to the U.S. Think about what someone is paid per hour if your yoga pants only cost $25. The company marks the product up at least 150% from cost or even wholesale price. Doesn't leave much room for paying a decent wage and offering health care or retirement benefits for the people making your affordable yoga garb.

Sorry for the rant. I appreciate being able to buy cute yoga stuff without going poor--but maybe buy your Lulu stuff on sale or buy it second hand. I think Old Navy is taking a cheap shot at Lulu. What do you think?

Yoga for Athletes

My friend asked me to sub for her last night. The class is titled: Yoga for Athletes, which is fitting because the class is offered at a small privately owned gym. Yoga follows the Tuesday night spinning class and the gyem owner is wanting to incorporate more yoga into his clients' workout regimen. It appears that the gym owner, Rodrigo, has quite the following in the community. Rodrigo is from Brazil and many of the women leaving the spinning class look like they might have spent some days on the beaches in Rio as well. Whether these women are genetically blessed with their figures or it is a result of Rodrigo's training does not matter---it made me want to start working out there too.

I digressed. Back to the yoga. So Yoga for Athletes...athletes, like the general population, could defintiely benefit from some yoga. In some respects, the athletes need the yoga all the more. From the professional to the weekend warrior, athletes have spent their lives testing the limits of the body. Even the everyday jogger wreaks havoc on their joints, their backs, their internal organs, their IT bands, and surely much more. I am not advocating that anyone quit jogging/running to save their knees from the abuse repetative pounding on concrete causes, but I do advocate adding a few sessions of yoga to their routine to undo any harmful side effects that the running might create. Same goes for cyclists, basketball players, golfers, ultimate fighters, rowers, football players, high and long and broad jumpers, soccer players, swimmers, divers, etc., etc., etc. Yoga ought to be a staple in an athletes life to help prolong careers, prevent injuries, recover from injuries, and so on and so on.

Speaking of yoga and athletes---Kira Ryder of Lulu Bandha's included an article about LeBron James use of yoga to enhance his basketball game. Sasha Cohen also was featured in an article discussing that she now does yoga and as a result feels she is in the best condition of her career and is considering another Olympics if she remains healthy. Yoga Journal interviewed one of the pitchers for the Colorado Rockies about his yoga practice and how that has improved his pitching. All this enthusiam about yoga from some serious athletes andthese are just the most recent examples that come to the tip of my typing.

So I taught Yoga for Athletes last night and enjoyed the audience. It is actually a community I want to work with more and more. I would love to be a personal yoga/pilates coach for professional athletes. Anything is possible--right?

Being Open Minded

I challenged myself to be open minded today. I went with my roommate to her yoga studio to take a class this afternoon. I used the experience to practice non-attachment and letting go of expectations. I vowed not to let my ego take over. I focused on understanding why that type of yoga and that studio appeals to so many people.

My first challege came before I had even placed my mat into the studio. The teacher told me that the focus of the class would be quads. Unfortunately, I already have strong, developed quads and have been actively trying to use them less because they are so strong and build muscle so easily. I have been told that my quads are over developed and a massage therapist even suggested that my quads could be contributing to my low back pain. You can imagine how "thrilled" I was to hear that we would be working out my favorite body part. Yippee.

I did my best to turn the quad building poses into quad lengthening and stretching poses and I made some other modifications to counter some of the quad work. For example, instead of doing ustrasana with the group I used that time to do virasana with a heart opener in order to combine quad stretching with some heart opening/ back bending. I also modified Dancer's pose in order to make it more about stretching my quads out rather than it being about balancing and back bending.

Overall, I had a nice practice and definitely got my body moving and my sweat dripping. If nothing else, this was an exercise in being present, being open minded, not letting the ego influence what the true self needs, and letting go of expectations---all central themes in yoga.

Innovative Yoga Sequences

After I teach and when I am practicing alone at home I like to just let go, be present, release any expectations or plans, and allow my body and subconscious to dictate what poses I do, how I move in and out of them, where I wiggle and shift engergy to, and what shapes I can create to open spaces that have not felt that open before.



Sometimes during these personal yoga practices I come up with fun and often challenging sequences. I try to use exciting transitions between postures, link a number of balancing poses together, move from standing to a seated twist and back to standing in one flowing sequence. I even make up new poses...except maybe they are not new poses, but just poses that I have never seen or been taught before.

I can hold the left and right sides for as long as I wish, do a bunch of hip openers, choose the arm balances I feel like working on, rest in supta badha konasana for ten minutes, start with 20 sun salutations or 2 (I don't think I have ever started with just 2), and allow myself to go on for 20 minutes or 2 entire hours.

To be completely honest, I am my own favorite teacher right now. If you have not spent some time doing your own yoga practice lately, I hope you will do so soon. I am sure you will realize that you are your favorite teacher as well.

Candlelight Yoga

Taught a candlelight class last night. I twas the first week this was offered and I had 3 students. One newer yogo that is testing out the studio, a nurse that found the class that afternoon while looking online, and an athletic male. The group had some very positive energy and seemed the perfect mix for a late night class. I enjoyed the opportunity to teach to a smaller group because it allowed me to really focus my comments and provide lots of yummy assists and adjustments. If I could have, I would have taught this class for at least 2 hours.

I had them start on their backs in badha konasana with one hand on their heart and the other on their belly. We took some time tuning into the breath and lengthening inhales and exhales, eventually pausing to retain at the top and bottom of the breath cycle.

Next we moved through a brief seated warm up of folding forward in sukasana and gently twisting. Eventually pressing into a bent knee down dog before walking hands back to fee for the first standing forward fold---uttanasana.

I had them build heat with sun salutations. Surya Namaskar A in the sivananda method with modifying chatturanga the first time and starting with cobra. We went through A 3 more times. Sun B was traditional B and could tell that they were getting warm. I helped the newbie focus on modifying chatturanga and only inhaling to cobra because her upper body strength is not quite where it needs to be to do that part of the vinyasa without compromising alignment and comfort in the low back.
The other two just need some work on Urdhva Muka Savasana-Up Dog- to roll the shoulder s back and down and press firmly into the tops of the big toes in order to take the arch out of the lumbar and into the thoracic spine. I did some hands on assisting and adjusting to help guide them into those places.

Standing sequences were crescent moon low lunge and high lunge with twisting and then Vira 2. Then pyramid pose to reverse triangle to twisting 1/2 moon with a release to forward fold.

We balanced with uttitha hasta padangustasana using straps and I challenged them to hold legs out in front for 5 counts. They really did well.

Moving to core work I challenged them at this point with downdog core and finally let them take it to the ground for janu sirsasana and related seated poses. By the time we moved through the finishing sequence and relaxed into savasana they seemed ready for a long rest.

They all said they really enjoyed the class and the attention that such a small class provided. I hope to have them all back again next week. Out of everything in my life right now, teaching yoga is my favorite way to pass the time.

So Excited for Stacy MacCarthy's Hips & Twists Workshop

One of my all time favorite teachers---Stacy McCarthy---is holding a 2 hour class themed on hips & twists. I rarely get the chance to take her classes due to my day job, so this is perfect! Stacy is one of those teachers that I am willing to miss watching an Elite Eight game in order to get a guaranteed 2 solid hours of serious yoga! If you haven't taken a class with Stacy before this is a perfect opportunity to understand why I rave about her.

Here is the blurb from the Sculpt Fusion website about the workshop:

Looking to further your practice? Join us for our upcoming workshop with renowned yoga instructor Stacy McCarthy: "Hips & Twists" Sunday March 29th from 1:30-3:30 pm...Stacy offers world-class instruction that integrates mind, body & spirit. With over 15 years of experience presenting at a national level, she has distinguished herself through her cutting edge classes which have been passionately devoted to the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga system.